


and i saw sparks

by cyberpunks (Delenaley)



Series: soul + mates [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Kiss, M/M, luhan's a syren n xing's a vampire, theres a faerie toefl called cfpt, this is just softness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 16:35:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17287595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delenaley/pseuds/cyberpunks
Summary: “My Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol murmurs, a small smile playing on his lips. Kyungsoo already knows what he’s about to say before he says it. “Steady hands, steady heart.”





	and i saw sparks

**Author's Note:**

> i.. really suck at dialogues (and kisses). i intended for this to be longer but alas. pcy is a senior in high school here, ksoo is a year under. timeskip 3 years after the first story. i recommend reading the first one bc they're from the same 'verse and is connected.
> 
> also me?? including my pride and joy, zhang yixing, as a character?? always.
> 
> anw, i hope u guys like this one. title is taken from coldplay's sparks.   
> (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

_"My heart is yours. It's you that I hold on to, that's what I do"_

_–_ **_Sparks, Coldplay._ **

 

**☆☆☆**

 

“Pay attention to me, I’m withering like an unattended plant.”

Kyungsoo sighs and stares at his _Advanced Level Common Fae_ textbook forlornly. He guesses his studies can wait, his CFPT isn’t for a few months, and he’s already taking courses for it anyway. It’s not like he managed to absorb anything for the past ten minutes either, thanks to Chanyeol.

Speaking of Chanyeol, out of the two of them, he’s the actual senior who needs to study; yet all he has done so far is give Kyungsoo a migraine with his constant demand for attention and dramatic whining, like a touch-starved hellhound pup. He gets more persistent the more he is ignored, too.

Kyungsoo turns around his chair to face Chanyeol, who’s lying on his stomach on his bed, textbook abandoned on the floor. “Why aren’t you studying?”

Chanyeol merely looks up and pouts.

“Stop doing that,” Kyungsoo snaps half-heartedly. He knows what Chanyeol wants and Chanyeol knows Kyungsoo can’t resist his pouts, but the boy promised him that he’d study first so he could get his cuddles. Except that, of course, Chanyeol didn’t really study.

Kyungsoo doesn’t want to be the overbearing friend, but the thing about this is the fact that even _Kyungsoo_ is studying. Kyungsoo, who’s in 11th year and doesn’t need to prepare for anything yet; Kyungsoo, who despises school and all it stands for, refuses to study unless absolutely needed to.

Though, he’s studying because he knows what he wants to do. Studying for something he likes, is good at and is interested in. He’s also only looking to pass CFPT early so he won’t have to bother worrying about it along with senior year examinations. Him happening to be damn good with the language is an individual advantage.

Chanyeol, on the other hand, always avoids the topic of his impending graduation. He kept on insisting that he wants to focus on the senior showcase, despite only showing up for one scene in his class’ musical. Kyungsoo knows the courses provided by school sucks and doesn’t actually help, because the teachers are the exact same ones that suck at teaching them daily.

To make it worse, filled classrooms had never been the best environment for Chanyeol, and forcing more hours on him would serve to only exhaust him instead of giving him actual knowledge. Which is why the little time they could spend together was spent trying to study together, or at least study in the same room, because what works best for Chanyeol is the same for Kyungsoo.

Baekhyun preferred different methods, deciding to exclude himself from their study session. But Kyungsoo knows the teasing lilt of his voice like the back of his hand, knows what he’s trying to do.

Which brings him back to the problem at hand.

Chanyeol.

Chanyeol, who’s wearing an oversized pastel yellow sweater (despite already being Big), his favorite white shorts and the purple-blue striped socks Baekhyun bought him for his birthday last year.

He looks absolutely devastating. Kyungsoo wants to curl up and die.

“I missed you, Soo-yah.” Chanyeol says, sitting up and opening his arms wide. “I haven’t seen you in ages because of the tutoring, so can we _not_ study?”

Kyungsoo groans, but gives in. He’s right. He hasn’t properly hung out with Chanyeol in ages, and no amount of Fae Speak can be more interesting than Chanyeol.

He gets up from his seat and goes straight into Chanyeol’s open arms, burying his face on the elder’s chest and snaking his own arms around Chanyeol’s waist, breathing him in. He smells like an odd mix of detergent and the fish they ate earlier. Kyungsoo doesn’t mind. He never does.

Sometimes, Kyungsoo wondered what would happen if he never offered to show Chanyeol around the school complex three years ago. If he had just let Chanyeol be and wait for Fate to work its way with their soulmate bond, instead of scoring himself another obnoxious, gentle best friend.

Like Kyungsoo expected, Chanyeol was comfortable to be around. Falling into routine with him wasn’t surprising, and he dived into Kyungsoo and Baekhyun’s friendship quickly and effortlessly, their little duo becoming a trio in no time. His easy-going personality and tendency to be reckless and idiotic matched well with Baekhyun. Their antics always made for an interesting show for Kyungsoo.

Telling Baekhyun they were soulmates and the origin of their meeting was as easy too. Kyungsoo still blamed himself for being doubtful of Baekhyun. Said man did took it well, eagerly asking about their tattoos and continuing to how everything felt, yet completely avoiding the topic of anything happening between Kyungsoo and Chanyeol.

“My Kyungsoo,” he hears Chanyeol murmur, his voice soft and reverent, like the beginning of a prayer. Kyungsoo clutches the back of Chanyeol’s sweater harder. “So ambitious, but noncompetitive. Always wanting the best for everyone. My steady-hearted soulmate.”

Kyungsoo’s heart is a wardrum, beating to the rhythm of Chanyeol’s words. If only Chanyeol knew how hard it is keeping his head and his heart steady around the boy. It takes the realization that Chanyeol’s going to graduate, might be _leaving_ him, for Kyungsoo to admit to himself that he knows what Chanyeol does to him and hasn’t stopped doing to him since he was fourteen years old.

But he wants this to make sense, wants _them_ to make sense. Just because they’re soulmates doesn’t mean they have to dive right into it. They even agreed long ago to let this play out, to stay only as friends until both of them graduates high school; and Kyungsoo intends to keep it that way even if it eats at him from inside out. Chanyeol’s sweet, sugary words doesn’t help his case.

He feels Chanyeol’s hands caressing his hair and looks up. Chanyeol has his lazy smile on, beautiful and heartbreaking. Kyungsoo wants nothing more than to reach out and make his fantasies a reality.

The thought is probably what caused Kyungsoo to surge forward mindlessly, connecting their lips. Chanyeol froze in his spot for a second, before melting into the kiss and sighing contentedly. Kyungsoo doesn’t know how long it actually went down, it feels like hours before they break apart, catching their breaths.

“Soo,” Chanyeol calls, seemingly still in a trance.

He reaches out to hold Kyungsoo’s hand.

Kyungsoo gasps when the back of his hand started stinging, looks down and sees the flicker where their hands made contact, like a small firework just exploded between their hands.

That alone was enough to startle Kyungsoo to retract his hand, finally realizing what he had just done. He had _kissed_ Chanyeol, and said boy reciprocated. They broke their own agreement.

Kyungsoo gets up from the bed and quickly picks up his bag, shoving his things inside and making sure nothing gets left behind. He ignores Chanyeol’s confused shouts and dashes out of the door with his heart in his hands.

 

☆☆☆

 

That night--after a crying session and some life contemplation–he called Baekhyun. He wanted to call Seungsoo because his brother had always been his shoulder to cry to when it comes to things he’s too embarrassed to tell to his parents. But when it comes to soulmates, Seungsoo was clueless, not having his own mark and not really caring for it. Kyungsoo thinks his older brother never even wanted a soulmate tattoo anyway, always preferring to be around his group of friends.

Kyungsoo couldn’t ask his parents, either, not wanting to recount him kissing Chanyeol being a possible factor of what caused the.. electric reaction. Baekhyun, however, grew up on fae tales and his grandmother fondly indulging him on anything he’d like to know about soulmates.

Baekhyun answered after two rings, and it takes Kyungsoo a simple ‘ _What happened?’_ for him to burst into tears again.

They finished talking an hour after, of course, with Baekhyun’s rambling mostly taking over. But at the end, Kyungsoo got what he wanted to know. Baekhyun’s grandmother called it _The Spark,_ and it was a common reaction between two soulmates who got physical under heavy influence of emotions for the first time. Kyungsoo groans at Baekhyun’s teasing tone.

The Fates really do take the phrase ‘Love is Pain’ literally, Kyungsoo thinks not for the first time. He remembers his tattoo, his first meeting with Chanyeol, and their kiss earlier. One day, he thinks, one day he will finally have a word with whichever deity that agreed to this shit.

He just needs to avoid Chanyeol first. Weekdays are easy because Chanyeol has extra courses for his national exams and wouldn’t be coming home until 5pm. They’re also in different years, and it would take Chanyeol ages to reach his class. By the time Chanyeol arrived, he wouldn’t be there.

Then he remembered, the senior showcase. Kyungsoo had enlisted as one of the juniors who would be helping out with technicalities, and he did so because of Chanyeol. He knows that despite his antics in avoiding studying, this performance is highly important for Chanyeol too.

Kyungsoo groans.

 

☆☆☆

 

Weekdays go by fast, soon it was the night of the showcase. The seniors’ official goodbye, and they’re going out with a bang. Their year even managed to collect enough money to be able to use the town’s theatre building for two nights. Despite the building’s worn down state (it must be older than the town’s vampire population), it was the best their town had and that’s a feat in itself. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun had mutually decided earlier that no one should be allowed near the toilet.

Toilet From Hell, Baekhyun had dubbed it, and Kyungsoo agreed wholeheartedly.

Kyungsoo had only finished handing out the food to Class Social 1 at the clearing outside, when he re-entered the back of the stage to spot one of his upperclassmen from Social 2, Luhan, crying near the ugly excuse of a toilet. He wouldn’t consider the syren a close friend, but they’re close enough for Kyungsoo to come up to him and start holding him.

Luhan and his vampire best friend, Yixing, were both in Chanyeol’s class and were the closest friends Chanyeol made that isn’t in any way related to Kyungsoo.

The two of them had an undying love for music and performing, which ties Chanyeol to them almost immediately. Their sarcastic and fatalistic humor was just a bonus. They were also gorgeous. Luhan attracts attention anywhere he goes, beautiful with turquoise hair and captivating, dreamy vocals when he’s on stage. Yixing was the more physical out of the two, the dance to Luhan’s sound. He’s a tad shorter but considerably broader and bigger than his best friend, effortlessly elegant and constantly composed. The both of them were the picture perfect face of each their kinds.

Which is why seeing Luhan break down was so jarring.

“It’s okay, sunbae, I’m sure you did well,” Kyungsoo says, rubbing soothing circles on Luhan’s back, said syren still sobbing on the crook of his neck. Kyungsoo doesn’t want to think about the rumors he’s heard regarding syren tears. He didn’t think helping out his seniors for the showcase initially included reassuring hysterical performers, but Kyungsoo did saw Social 1 earlier, and he wouldn’t be able to count the tear-streaked faces with both hands. “Heck, I _know_ you did well. So don’t worry, okay?”

He internally cringes at his own words, but he never said he was good at comforting people. That’s Baekhyun’s territory.

From behind Luhan, he makes eye contact with Yixing. He knows Yixing could hear them, perks of being a slightly advanced being. The elder looked torn. Being one of the juniors assisting, Kyungsoo was required to know the schedules of the performances; so he knows that Yixing’s name will be called any second now, but seeing his best friend in this state must be what’s rooting him on his spot.

His inner conflict seemed to only last a second, though. Yixing crossed the room with annoying vampiric speed and took the crying Luhan into his arms. Luhan’s cries seemed to echo more in the split second he was separated from Kyungsoo, immediately muffled when he buried his face on Yixing’s chest. Kyungsoo winces, hopes that the sound wouldn’t get caught anywhere, and because Yixing’s dancing outfit was too pretty to be ruined. He hasn’t even gone up stage yet.

“He’s right, Han. You did well, so well. I’m so proud of you.” Yixing mutters, holding Luhan close. He’s looking at Luhan like the syren is his entire world, like he’d tear down an empire for Luhan’s sake. Kyungsoo wonders if they are soulmates, realizes how devastating it would be if they weren’t.

He misses Chanyeol.

 

☆☆☆

 

Kyungsoo finds Chanyeol in the makeup room, turned away from the vanity mirror and holding an eyeliner in hand like he’s about to snap it. Kyungsoo smiles at his best friend. He only intended to come here to wish Chanyeol luck (and maybe fulfill the hole caused by the lack of the other’s presence for the past few days), but it seems like he’ll be staying longer.

“You know,” he starts. Chanyeol looks up at the sound of his voice. Kyungsoo’s heart hammered in his chest, Chanyeol looked gorgeous. “They enlisted my help for catering, but I found myself helping out various other departments tonight.”

At Kyungsoo’s words, his eyes turned wide, hopeful. He held out the eyeliner and pouted cutely at Kyungsoo.

“I guess I’ll help out in makeup department too,” he says, walking towards Chanyeol and sitting on the empty chair across him. “I’ll have to warn you, I’m nowhere near as good as Baekhyun.”

He takes the liner anyway, getting Baekhyun would waste too much time. He doesn’t even know where Baekhyun is. Knowing Baekhyun, he’s probably calming down more crying upperclassmen. Kyungsoo’s had enough of that, and it was only because it was Luhan. He wouldn’t do it to anyone he doesn’t know, fearful of saying the wrong thing and upsetting the person further.

“You’re enough, Kyungsoo-yah,” Chanyeol whispers, like what he’s saying is a secret that should be kept between the both of them. Kyungsoo’s heart skipped a beat.

“Close your eyes,” he instructs, not daring to look Chanyeol in the eye and opting to pretend examining the liquid liner in his hands instead. Chanyeol obeyed and leaned forward. Their sudden proximity nearly causes Kyungsoo to topple backwards in his seat from shock. He’s glad Chanyeol’s eyes are closed and that no one’s here to see them.

Chanyeol’s class was last to perform, and most of his classmates were busy with their outfits. Kyungsoo even saw some of them eating the catered food already, confused as to how they can be that calm when most of the upperclassmen either nearly or actually threw up from nerves. Chanyeol told him he would do his makeup last, not liking how hot and stuffy the backstage is, especially around numbers of people. Kyungsoo agrees on that.

When he checked his watch, barely five minutes passed, but it felt like years when Kyungsoo finally finished drawing the black lines on Chanyeol’s eyelids. He drew little stars next to both Chanyeol’s eyes. He’s not good at makeup, but he’s good with drawings and he hopes that Chanyeol will be satisfied. He surprised himself that he only stuttered a bit at the beginning, nor did he smudge anything. Baekhyun would be proud.

Kyungsoo notes earlier that he already did most of his makeup alone anyway, and tries not to look at the elder’s glossy, _pink_ lips. The highlighter he used would emphasize his face beautifully under the spotlight. Kyungsoo can’t believe that someone this beautiful, this _breathtaking_ , is his soulmate.

“My Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol murmurs, a small smile playing on his lips. Kyungsoo already knows what he’s about to say before he says it. “Steady hands, steady heart.”

“Chanyeol–”

“I’m sorry.”

Kyungsoo places the eyeliner down on the desk and sighs. He seems to be doing that a lot lately. “Don’t be,” he replies, finally looking Chanyeol in the eye. That hopeful glint he had earlier reappearing.

“Be honest with me,” he continues, taking Chanyeol’s hands in his own. That seems to calm his erratic heartbeat. “What would you like us to be, right now?”

“More,” Chanyeol breathes out immediately. “I’d like to be more. Please, Soo.”

Kyungsoo nods slowly, taking it in. He’s been dwelling on this for the past few days. Part of their agreement was to let this play out, and it’s not like their feelings can be helped. It must be okay. They’ve been friends for years now, there’s nothing wrong if they want to try out how further they can be, now.

“Okay,” he says, squeezing Chanyeol’s hands, sees the exact moment Chanyeol’s lips split into a grin. He’s so beautiful. “Okay.”

Chanyeol pulls him into a hug and Kyungsoo revels in the scent of his body cologne, he hasn’t had a hug for an entire _week._ After Chanyeol’s finished his performance, Kyungsoo’s going to make up for the week they wasted not being within each other’s vicinity.

“Can I–” Chanyeol asks as soon as they break apart. “Can we kiss?”

Kyungsoo considers it for a second, then sees Chanyeol’s makeup and pretty stage outfit. Chanyeol worked hard for his makeup and Kyungsoo worked _really_ hard not to ruin his eyeliner.

“After,” Kyungsoo says, a finger on Chanyeol’s lips to keep him from pouting. If he did, Kyungsoo wouldn’t be able to resist him. “I don’t want to risk anything before you go on stage.”

At that, Chanyeol breaks into another one of his dazzling smiles and pulls Kyungsoo into another hug. In the distance, he can hear the crowd’s cheers as another performance was finished. Chanyeol’s up any second now, but Kyungsoo remembers what he saw with Yixing and Luhan, and decides that the crowd can wait.

Kyungsoo holds his soulmate tighter.

**Author's Note:**

> if you guys made it this far, thank you! any feedback is appreciated (just pls dont be mean i am Not Afraid to Cry)
> 
> i'm on [cc](http://curiouscat.me/layverse) and [twt!](http://twitter.com/layverse) ☆☆☆


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